Page 79 of Spilling the Tea

“Don’t do this, Victoria.”

“Pa, please understand,” she pleaded, placing her suitcase by her feet.

“If you only knew the threats Penny Satterfield made against you tonight if you married Waylon. For that reason, I would never permit you to be a part of that family.”

“Pa, please don’t say that,” Victoria said, tears forming in her eyes.

The knock on the door got louder, and then Milton spoke up and said, “Pa, please let Waylon in so you can talk to him and Victoria. Tell him about his mother’s threats and why you don’t want a union between them. Let Way and Mr. Kurt deal with Ms. Penny.”

Victoria swiped at her tears, unsure her father would take Milton’s advice. She let out a sigh of relief when he nodded. “Fine, let him in.”

Her mother approached, giving her a handkerchief for her tears, and Milton went to open the door. After wiping her eyes, she glanced at her father and suddenly realized something was wrong. He reached up and touched his forehead as if he had a headache. Then she saw his lips twitch a few times as he swayed on his feet, just seconds before he crumbled to the floor.

“Pa!”

She and her mother rushed to her father. “Milton! Waylon!” Victoria screamed at the top of her voice.

Both men appeared and immediately rushed to pick him up. “We need to get Pa to the hospital immediately,” Victoria said, checking his pulse. Over the summer, while working in the hospital, the nurses showed her how to do it.

“Ma, call Dr. Hargrove,” Milton said. “Way, help me get Pa out to the truck.”

Everyone went into action. After making a call to Dr. Hargrove, Etta Madaris dashed to her bedroom to change.

Waylon caught Victoria’s arm when she was about to go get inside the truck. “Milton told me that Ma called your pa andruined our plans. He also told me about Ma’s threats. I will get to the bottom of it, sweetheart, I swear.”

Trying not to feel a sense of anguish and despair, Victoria nodded. She then quickly got inside the truck with her mother and Milton to rush her father to the hospital.

***

An angry Waylon stormed into his home to find his parents sitting at the kitchen table. Since it was almost midnight, he knew they were waiting for him. That meant they’d figured his elopement with Victoria had failed. “You had no right to call Mr. Jantz, Ma.”

“Don’t raise your voice to me—I had every right. How dare you elope with that Madaris girl? It’s a good thing I found those train tickets in your bedroom drawer. I knew what you were up to.”

“You had no right to snoop around in my things.” He shifted his gaze to his pa. “You knew about this?”

Mr. Kurt shook his head. “No, I didn’t know anything until your ma woke me up and told me what you planned to do.”

“You and Ma left me no choice. I love Victoria, and this family has made it known that she’s not welcome in it.”

“That’s not true, Waylon. I’ve given you back my blessing for a marriage between you and Victoria. It’s Jantz who’s keeping this feud going.”

“Mainly because of Ma’s threats.”

Kurt frowned at his wife. “What threats are you making, Penny?”

“I’m not making threats but speaking the truth. If Victoria and Waylon marry, she’s not welcome in our family.”

“Why?” Kurt asked his wife, seemingly shocked at the venom he heard in her voice.

“Because that family is why Charlotte had to leave her home, and you won’t let her return.”

Kurt shook his head. “No, they are not, Penny,” he saidfirmly. “How often do I have to say that Charlotte was sent away for her own doing? Our daughter lied to us. She put her hand on the family Bible and lied. She got pregnant by one man and accused another of the deed, and she hadn’t been a virgin as she’d claimed, and that hadn’t been her first pregnancy. It wasn’t the Madarises who brought shame to this family, Penny. It was our daughter.”

“She would not have done that if Milton had taken her seriously. She’d been sweet on him for years, but he ignored her. Our Charlotte was beautiful, happy, and liked by all. There was no reason he couldn’t find favor with her.”

“Ma, Milt never gave Charlotte any reason to think she had a chance with him. Besides, none of what you said is excusable behavior for what Charlotte did. And not all of what you said just now is true. Charlotte was beautiful, and I’m sure she was happy most days, but she was not well-liked. She was mean, hateful, and a bully, and most people around here knew it.”

“How dare you say that about your sister? She was well-liked except by those girls who were jealous of her. She told me about them and how mean they were to her.”

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